Episode 1212: Three Radical Ideas
Date May 4, 2018 Summary Ben Lindbergh, Jeff Sullivan, and ESPN’s Sam Miller banter about James Paxton’s 16-strikeout start and the elusive 21-strikeout game, why no-hitters are becoming more common but are also endangered, how to familiarize oneself with newly minted major-league relievers, and Albert Pujols’s evaporating walk rate, then discuss Sam’s radical proposals to change baseball’s playoff format, playoff structure, and schedule. Topics * Sam Miller's 'Radical Ideas' series * What if every MLB team made the playoffs? * Paying players based on past performance * Bidding for home field advantage * Rejected radical ideas Intro The Flaming Lips, "Free Radicals" Outro The Bees, "Change Can Happen" Broadcast sound clip Banter * 21 strikeout games: James Paxton struck out 16 in 7 innings but was pulled after throwing 105 pitches. * Pitch counts, no hit bids, and manager leashes * Strategies for remembering relievers * Guessing the names of the Royals' relievers * Albert Pujols' low walk rate and career WAR * Shohei Ohtani's impact on pitcher batting statistics Notes * Sam, on his 'Radical Idea' series, "Some call them tubular." * Sam notes that while batters are making contact less and for that reason no-hit bids are on the rise, managers are increasingly less likely to leave a pitcher in when their pitch count rises very high. For this reason he things no-hitters will become much rarer in the coming years. * The Braves have used 16 relievers so far this season, the most in baseball. * Albert Pujols has walked in 2.4% of plate appearances this year (3 times, 1 IBB). * Albert Pujols, closing in on 3,000 hits, has a career high chase rate and is being thrown 28% sliders. * Sam's idea for allowing all MLB teams to make the playoffs addresses the glut of meaningless games as the seasons because all teams would still be competing for seeding at end of the year. * Sam proposes using 50% of league revenue to create a central salary fund that would be used to pay players. Players receive a base salary and then would be paid out based on a $/WAR (or similar metric) and teams could supplement player salary with their own additional funds. * Sam thinks that small market teams could turn home games into more valuable resources by selling them. In contrast, it would provide fans in large markets with ticket scarcity a greater opportunity to attend games. He notes a downside is that it "could be really super gross and disgusting" and not actually lead to less stratification. * One of Sam's ideas that he chose to not write about was having teams playing separate games use their score to decide a different matchup. For example, Teams A & B are playing each other while Teams C & D play each other. However for the purposes of scores and win-loss records, the run totals from Teams A & C and Teams B & D would be matched up. * Ben is writing a book with Travis Sawchik tentatively titled The Makeover Machine. Links * Effectively Wild Episode 1212: Three Radical Ideas * What if every MLB team made the playoffs? by Sam Miller * What if MLB players were paid on commission? by Sam Miller * What if MLB teams could bid for more home games? by Sam Miller * No-hitters like Sean Manaea's will become rarer and rarer by Sam Miller * Your New Favorite Reliever Power Rankings: Eight guys to love you've never heard of by Sam Miller * Albert Pujols Never Walks by Sam Miller Category:Episodes Category:Guest Episodes